Holy Warriors of Suffering
The Holy Warriors of Suffering were a knightly order of paladins devoted to Ilmater, the Broken God, and affiliated with the Church of Ilmater. Base The Holy Warriors of Suffering were based out of a fortress located on the site of what was later Castle Dasaajk, east of the Purple Hills in Tethyr. Activities The Holy Warriors undertook various dangerous missions and expeditions to cull monsters. History After enchanting the sword Dornavver in the Year of the Wrath Sword, 275 DR, the Church of Ilmater entrusted the blade to the Holy Warriors of Suffering. They desired that it should be used to battle the spread of evil around southwestern Faerûn, particularly fiends. Dornavver was kept and wielded by the Holy Warriors for over a century. Finally, an unnamed paladin of the order took the sword and journeyed north to the realm of Torsil, then under the tyrannical rule of Uldoon, "the Mage of Fangs", whose armies of summoned fiends had terrorized the surrounding lands. Wielding Dornavver, the paladin battled through the fiends of Torsil and defeated Uldoon. These heroic deeds were recorded in the ballad "Uldoon's Doom". Following the downfall of Uldoon, the paladin then traveled west of the Heartlands, bearing the sword. Its whereabouts were unknown for over a hundred years. Around 1265 DR, Archsufferer Bloirt Waelarn of the House of the Broken God in Keltar had denounced the Ilmatari priests of the House of Holy Suffering in Mussum for refusing to relinquish the Tome of Torment, the holiest book of the faith, and declared them degenerate, mentally ill heretics. The Mussum priests and the Companions of the Noble Heart attacked Waelarn and his followers, labeling them "false clerics" and "subverted by evil". An angry Waelarn summoned the Holy Warriors of Suffering, as well as the Knights of the Bleeding Shield, and the Order of the Golden Cup, to his side and vowed holy war against the "unclean ones of Mussum" and their allies. The war saw the violent clashes of Holy Hill Farm in 1266 DR and Bronsheir's Charge and Weeping Rock in 1267 DR. Finally, Lord Sir Jargus Holenhond of the Golden Cup called an end to the bloodshed between true believers, insisted that the Tome of Torment be transferred to Keltar as planned, and blamed Bloirt Waelarn for the senseless violence, determining that he should be removed from office and sent into hermitage for the remainder of his years. The weary paladins accepted and carried out his judgment. Shortly after the war, Althea the Abased, the new leader of the House of the Broken God, declared that no high-ranking member of the church was worthy of the Tome. Althea selected Blaermon the Blessed, a knight of the Holy Warriors of Suffering named for surviving many hopeless battles, to take away the Tome of Torment and bestow it upon the first "needy and worthy" Ilmatari he met, someone who worked or fought for the benefit of the common people and their faith, not merely for wealth and adventure. In the Year of the Daystars, 1268 DR, Blaermon gave the Tome to Flaergon of Glister, who devoted his efforts to assisting miners and caravan-workers in the frozen north of the Moonsea. The Tome was again in the possession of the House of the Broken God from 1343 DR to 1362 DR, during which time it was occasionally loaned to Ilmatari priests embarking on dangerous missions and monster culls with the Holy Warriors of Suffering. Appendix Notes * Although the Holy Warriors of Suffering are named as a "a knightly order of paladins" in Champions of Valor, the same book suggests (on page 100) that there are only two Ilmatari paladin orders circa 1374 DR: the Companions of the Noble Heart and the Order of the Golden Cup. In Prayers from the Faithful, the Holy Warriors are listed separately from "the paladins of the Order of the Golden Cup". Both statements suggest that the Holy Warriors are not paladins. It is possible that the Holy Warriors no longer included paladins by the 13th century, or perhaps were disbanded by the 1370s. References Category:Paladin orders Category:Knighthoods Category:Organizations of Ilmater Category:Religious organizations Category:Organizations in Castle Dasaajk Category:Organizations in the Purple Hills Category:Organizations in Vintor Category:Organizations in the Purple Marches Category:Organizations in Ankramir Category:Organizations in Tethyr Category:Organizations in the Lands of Intrigue Category:Organizations in West Faerûn Category:Organizations in Faerûn Category:Organizations on Toril Category:Organizations